Saturday, 13 February 2010

Darling announces March budget

The budget is going to go down like a dose of swine flu; no more stimulues and plenty of cuts to be set out, with possible tax rises too. The Government is going to need as long as possible to get over this disaster, so that makes May more likely for the General Election.

Having said that, perhaps this is a pump-fake and instead an election will be called in March so that the budget gets canned?

Seriously though, I had started to wonder what had happened to Darling, he seemed to have been air brushed out of Govt in manner worthy of the old Soviet empire.

My guess is that a March election is too risky given the winter weather we have been having. Labour needs a turnout of its core supporters to prevent a melt down and those core supporters are notorious for being fair weather fans.

As for the Budget, Brown may have an 'idea' of talking more stimulus (he's a socialist at heart so considers the markets to be the enemy) or it'll just be full of those 'dividing lines' of which he speaks so highly...

I think Darling has become a little the SS officer in the Mitchell and Webb sketch.The one who begins to have doubts and concerns for what he has been doing. The one who thinks he might not be right after all.

The one who has been thinking about their death's head cap badges."Hans, have you looked at our badges..? They've got skulls on! What kind of army would have skulls?Hans..Are we the baddies?"

For a while now I have been suggesting that a pre-election budget will be totally pointless because if the Tories get in they will have another budget anyway, and if Labour win the IMF will be called the day after.

That said, Brown doesn't do sensible, so a March budget of freebies and giveaways followed by a May election followed by a summer emergency budget whoever wins.